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Im in the process of upgrading brakes, i will be using wilwoods on the front, with vented discs.

As for the rears, is there a way of conveting them from drums to discs using the original arms?

A lot of people have said why bother conveting rear to disks as the fronts do most of the braking anyway. I know this, i still want rear discs, just wanna know if there is a way of doing it without 323i arms?

Thanks in advance.

Drjim used some VAG rear calipers with a built in h/brake with e21/e30 rear disks

Jason

Yep Golf Mk 3 rear calipers, a laser cut 6mm steel bracket which I then modded as my measurements were out by 0.5mm for the CAD file, Golf handbrake cables, E21 rear discs and a spacer machined up to get the disc to sit properly on the hubs. I had some 323i rear hubs but for some unknown reason the splines were different so they wouldn't hold on the driveshafts.

Sounds a little more complicated than the 323i rear arm conversion. Dont fancy more custom machined brackets.

Still looking for 323i rear arms then i can get it done!

I finally got hold of 323i trailing arms to do the conversion from drums to discs!

Can i change over trailing arms only, and leave existing drive shafts?

yes

Good, i may do the conversion sonner than later. Problem with handbrake cable adjustor in drum driving me nuts!

Im going to take apart 323i handbrake assembly and make sure it works, get a new cable and go that way.

Iv got no probs changing brake lines and assuming all i have to do for remainder of conversion is;

-disconnect outer driveshaft from rear hub assmebly
-unbolt the two trailing arm to chasis bush bolts
-disconnect the suspension
-take out old trailing arm and refit 323i one

It should be fine, anything i missed? Any heads up comments?

it sounds easier when you say it like that - but its a bit of a friggin pain tbh.

the bolts holding the arms are usually rusted on - your gonna need heat - so bring a blow torch but watch out the gas tank is right there.

if you check me thread theres a good pic of my rear beam.

however at the same time i did the camber plate modification so that when i go low i dont have the scary excessive handling at high speeds that too much negative camber gives ya. you will want to take off the rear axle cos you dont have much room in there.

while you got the arms off - dont bother re-using the old shitty bushes - replace them!

I will get to camber adjustment plates at a later date, still have original suspension. I will cure camber issues after i have fitted GAZ Coilovers.

Im going to get on and dissassemble my 323i subframe this w/e, get it to bits and order any new replacement parts i need, been waiting a while to change out the drums!

I've never noticed scary handling at high speeds, what speeds are you talking about? In corners it would actually help! The only reason I'd fix negative camber is tyre wear.

Also if the subframe bushes are flipped upside down then you reduce the effects of negative camber somewhat.

negative camber is where it is all at looks cool and does the job.

why not just get a whole 323i back end and then bolt the whole lot up, much easyer to work on out the car.

just undo the prop shaft and diff back carrier if you have one, then the top of the suspension and the whole lot will come off, if you leave the wheels bolted on you can role the whole lot around.

you can then get to everything and paint everything aswell, make it all minty nice

wizor the rear coilovers are as low as they will go without helper springs.

i found that the the rear of the car would weave about around 90mph - but then i do blame all this on the camber but it could easily be the shitty old bushes too.

when i changed my rear beam for disk brakes - i swapped all the bushes for poly ones so it doesnt do it now. i find that having the factory settings mean more tyre is on the road and it has WAY more grip.

that negative camber at the back is a menace for tyre wear - i only went 40mm lower on choppies and you can see that the tyres were feathered on the inner edges.

austin25uk wrote:negative camber is where it is all at looks cool and does the job.

why not just get a whole 323i back end and then bolt the whole lot up, much easyer to work on out the car.

just undo the prop shaft and diff back carrier if you have one, then the top of the suspension and the whole lot will come off, if you leave the wheels bolted on you can role the whole lot around.

you can then get to everything and paint everything aswell, make it all minty nice

it aint that easy - you have drop it at the same time on both sides. you defo need a ramp for an easy life.

Any more than 2 or 3 degrees negative camber might look good but does nothing for your handling, knackers tyres and screws up suspension geometry. Apart from that it's great imo.

Im in middle of re-assembling trailing arms, i have mounted new backing plates and test fitted discs. They sit pretty damn close to the backing plate, is that normal?